Heritage Iron Issue 001

HOME OF THE MUSCLE TRACTOR January 2009

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FOCUSING ON FARM EQUIPMENT FROM THE 1960–1985 ERA

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009ISSUE 001

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DEREK HOMERDING &

STEVE COTTONGIN OF

NEWARK, IL

PHOTO BY SUPER T

NEXT ISSUE FEATURE:

ON THE COVER

FEATURES22 IH’s FARMALL 120610 M&W GEAR Company History (Part I)18 HOMES EVERY COLLECTOR SHOULD SEE! Homes of Oliver (Part I)

34 MIGHT Y-TOW 4-11540 JD BUYERS GUIDES42 CANADIAN COMBINES The Heritage Era (1960-1985)

DEPARTMENTS5 SHERRY’S

SHOP From the Editor

6 BLOWING SMOKE Your Letters & Pics32 MINI MUSCLE Toys and Collectibles48 MACHINERY MILESTONES History Lesson52 MACHINERY PROFILE56 SOLD Auction Results58 TRADER Buy, Sell, Trade

JANUARY 2009

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CONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTSCONTENTS

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FEATURE TRACTOR

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JD 8020AC DEALER FEATUREHOMES OF IHMORE ON M&W


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Editorial Content & Ads:

HERITAGE IRONEditorial Offi ce

PO Box 70

Nokomis, IL 62075

Ph: 217-563-8327

Fax: 217-563-8866

Sherry:[email protected] Ads:[email protected] Sell Trade:[email protected]

ADVERTISERS are responsible for copyright permission of any logos that appear in their advertisements. Contents © 2008 by 3 Point Ink, LLC. Reprinting any portion of this issue without permission of the publisher is prohibited. The publisher reserves the right to edit letters to the editor for clarity and style. 3 Point Ink, LLC is not responsible for any typographical errors in advertising copy. Heritage Iron (ISSN 1945-3639) is published six times per year by 3 Point Ink, LLC, PO Box 70, Nokomis, IL 62075. U.S. subscription price: $29, Canadian subscription price: $35, Overseas subscription price: $48 for 1 year, 6 issues. Pricing valid through 12/31/09. All rates are in U.S. funds only. Postmaster: Periodical postage paid at Nokomis, IL and additional mailing offices. Change of address notice: Please allow 6-8 weeks for an address change to take effect. Heritage Iron is not responsible for missed issues due to an address change.

PRINTED IN THE USA

Editor ................ Sherry Schaefer

Designer .............. Jason DeWitt

Publisher ............. 3 Point Ink, llc

Display Ads ....Debbie Sebastian

Photographer............. Super T

SHERRY’S SHOPelcome to the fi rst issue of Heritage Iron! We are excited and we hope you are too. We’re reaching out to tap into an era of tractors and equipment that are

quickly becoming the collectibles of today. � e year 1960 marked a turning point in farm mechanization where horsepower was taking over.

� e old steel-wheeled, hand crank tractors have their place in his-tory. If it were not for them, agricultural equipment would not have evolved into “big iron” it is today. But that phase of our past is just that…..in the past.

We want muscle! We want a smoke belching from the exhaust pipe and blowing in our faces. We want noise and power and the tractors that WE grew up with.

I’ve been around many tractors in the family tractor yard in my life but the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is a tractor we call “Big Bertha”. Bertha is an Oliver 1900 with a 453 GM diesel and a loader. She’s one of the family. � ere were many mornings I was awak-ened and drawn to the shed just by the sound of Bertha. � ere’s nothing she won’t lift and if it’s too heavy, she’ll exert every ounce of power trying until the cylinders take on an arched shape and Bertha’s done that on several occasions. At our place, she’s the icon of brute power. When Dad talked about selling Bertha once, I threatened to secede from the family if he did so. Bertha is still with us.

We all have a “Big Bertha” in our background. � ere’s just something about a high-horsepower tractor that draws us like moths to a fl ame. You could be someone who doesn’t weigh 120 pounds soaking wet but when you crawl up on the seat of a muscle tractor, fi re that engine up and lift your left foot off the clutch, you have just transformed yourself into a force to be reckoned with. � e tractors is not the one with the power. YOU have the power! YOU are now unstoppable thanks to the fi ve tons of iron you’re straddling!

� at is just what Heritage Iron is all about – unstoppable, brute power! We’re going to talk about tractors, equipment, manufacturers and their history. We’ll throw in a section to talk about toys of the muscle tractor era, known as “mini muscles”. A future “steroid” section will focus on tractor pulling and those who are getting enough power out of their tractor to make the OEM shudder with fear.

Our “Blowing Smoke” section is just for you. It’s a place in the magazine where you can send in a picture of YOUR muscle tractor and exert your bragging rights. So get a shot of your favorite tractor and let us know why it is so special to you.

Former John Deere engineer, Larry Gay, will have a column called Machinery Milestones. In this section he will note what diff erent equipment manufacturers were doing at the same time to put themselves at the front of the fi eld.

We have a variety of topics to cover in the upcoming issues of Heritage Iron. We will cover ALL of the brands without showing favoritism to any. We’ll be talking about combines, planters, tillage tools and anything else that was part of the muscle tractor era. Since most tractor manufac-turers also had an industrial line, we’ll be throwing a little taste of that into the magazine.

Since we want to keep your equipment alive for the next generation to enjoy, we’ll be including tips to make your muscle live longer. It’s just my opinion but I feel that this series of tractors will be the last collectible tractors. With the later models, electronics, computers and emissions equip-ment were taking over. � e average Joe won’t be able to work on them without calling in a techni-cian. But you can still have fun and work on your own tractors from the 60’s and 70’s and that’s what we’re here to help you with.

We’re writing Heritage Iron just for you. We welcome your input and want to hear from you. We want Heritage Iron to be as big and bad as the equipment it represents. Enjoy!

Subscriptions, Renewals or Address Changes:HERITAGE IRON

PO Box 369

Enon, OH 45323

Ph: 866-552-6085

[email protected]

SHOW TIMEStop by our booth at the National Farm Machin-ery Show in Louisville, KY Feb. 11-14, 2009

Booth #661


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[email protected]

Dear Sherry, I was pleased to read about your new endeavor, “Heritage IRON”, in my new Oliver Heritage Magazine. Congratulations!I have been a subscriber of Oliver Heritage magazine beginning with the May/June ‘04 issue. I met you at an auc-tion in western Wisconsin at that time and thought I’d give your new venture my support...it has been well worth it! I especially enjoy your editor’s column, “� e Oliver Girl”--the personal point of view brings a wonderful sense of the human

side of this hobby. I enjoy my “iron”, but I’ve come to espe-cially love the people I’ve met over the course of the years I’ve collected tractors.I’ve already subscribed to “Heritage IRON” this evening, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it too.

I grew up on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin, and truth be told, I loved being in the fi elds on a tractor a lot more than I cared for milking cows. My older sisters say my fi rst words were, “Massey 44”. My dad bought one new in 1951, and I loved and worked with that tractor through my child-hood. In 1967, my father died, my older brother took over the farm, and I went off to college and became an English teacher. � e moment I got out of col-lege in 1971 and started to earn a few dollars, I took out a loan and bought my own fi rst tractor, a Massey 444. I had spent my summers working in machinery dealerships, painting the used tractors that came in to make them more saleable, so it didn’t take long to make that Massey look like new. And so the collecting began...

Now, thirty-seven years later, I have over sixty good running tractors of all colors. � ough I am partial to Massey and Oliver, I have come to appreciate the good qualities of many brands. I own a “hobby” farm of 230 acres, and I work my tractors on the 60 acres of fi elds.

� e real point of my note, however, is that I think you’re on the right track with the “muscle tractor” thing. I, and most others I know, can

appreciate a nice Oliver 55...but when I start up my 2255, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! � ere is just something primal about the sound of a big engine and the feel of that power that draws one to it like a moth to a fl ame.

Over the past ten or twelve years, I’ve found my own col-lection drifting toward the “Big Iron”. At this point, I have two Oliver 990’s and two Massey 98’s with supercharged 3/71 Detroits, and an Oliver 1900, a 1900 with FWA, and a Cockshutt 1900--all with super-charged 4/53 Detroits, an Allis D-21 with a turbo-charged 426, a 1206 International, two MM 706’s with FWA and 504 CID sixes, three Massey 97’s, again with 504’s, a Massey 1155 with V-8 540 CID Perkins, and an Oliver 2255 with the 3150 Cat V-8. � ey’re all cool in their own way!

I’m obviously a big iron fan, and will look forward to receiv-ing “Heritage IRON.”

Best wishes!Rich Onesti

Dear Rich,It sounds like you have a real

nice collection of the “Big Iron”. Your description of the “muscle thing” is perfect! I was recently at a show in Missouri when someone started a GM powered tractor. In an instant, ¾ of the crowd turned around and was drawn to the tractor, surrounding it like it was the star of the show.

I have learned in the past few months that we all have a com-mon bond, whether we collect

HERITAGE IRONBLOWING SMOKEPO Box 70Nokomis, IL 62075

or e-mail to:

HANDLEWITH

POWER

ATTENTION! MUSCLE TRACTOR ENTHUSIAST! This is your place to blow smoke! Send us a pic-ture of your tractor or tell us about your favor-ite muscle tractor to:

Sherry,What a great idea of doing the tractors of the 60’s and 70’s! Some of these vintage mod-els are becoming highly sought after collector models, plus are still workhorses of some farming operations today.

Best of luck with your new Heritage Iron Magazine and continued success.

Danny GottmanGottman Toys, Inc.

� anks Danny!I know you have always

helped promote the muscle tractors with your detailed series of pull-ing tractor toys. � e popularity of your Kinze toys also supports this era. We look forward to doing a feature on the Kinze line some-time in the future. - Sherry

Blowing Smoke

Hi Sherry,We just wanted to tall you

Good Luck and let you know how much we are looking forward to receiving Heritage Iron. We enjoy Oliver Heritage and know that the new magazine will be equally as good and interesting.

I can tell you as the tractor collector’s wife that I am also looking forward to the maga-zine. I truly enjoy reading your editorial in the beginning to see what you have been up to lately and what has been happen-ing in your world to farming. I fi nd the articles in the magazine interesting and enjoy reading about the people and the his-tory behind the companies and equipment made.

Since my involvement with tractors really started when we got married in 1963, the trac-tors of the 1960’s through the 80’s will be tractors I “grew up” on so I will be better able to relate to them.

Since we do have red blood and green blood out there, I’ve enclosed one of my favor-ites that we have had around the farm since 1972. � is is our 1971 JD 4000. It is still completely original down to its paint and it still gets used. We don’t use it in the fi eld as much as we did but it still gets plenty of action, mostly as our auger tractor.

So we look forward to read-ing about all the brands of trac-tors and the people involved with them.

Best of everything with Heritage Iron.

Dick & Bonnie MarcotteGrant Park, IL

Dear Dick and Bonnie,� anks for sharing your

tractor and story with us. Considering the 4000 is 37 years old, it’s aging very nicely.

I thoroughly enjoy gathering the history one tidbit and a time and compiling it into an interest-ing story. So you’re not the only one that looks forward to it. I’m just as guilty. I hope you enjoy Heritage Iron. - Sherry


BL

OW

ING

S

MO

KE“There is just something primal about

the sound of a big engine and the feel of that power that draws one to it like a moth to a fl ame.”red, green, yellow, blue or orange. Everyone has that same feeling when talking about their trac-tor. � eir eyes light up and when they run out of something to say, they just stand there and smile as though that piece of iron was their best friend. And I’m sure there are quite a few women out there who have said “You care more about that tractor than you do me!”

� ank you for subscribing. You’ll have to send me a picture of your muscle collection someday. - Sherry

that power that draws one to it like a moth

Dear Editor,Do you anticipate review-

ing and covering farm implements of this time period? Specifi cally Krause implements folding wing discs and chisel fi eld cultiva-tors from Hutchinson, KS, or Crustbuster folding grain drills, or Hesston hay swathers of Hesston, KS, or Noble folding springtooths and fi eld cultivators, or New Holland self-propelled bale wagons (small rectangular bales picked up on a truck bed), or Green Monster bale trucks (small rectangular bales picked up on a truck bed), or Massey Harris

Combines Super 27, Super 90, or Massey Ferguson com-bines 410 ??????? � ese were pieces used on our farm back then. All of our JD tractors have already been covered. Or is your focus tractors?

Thanks in advance for your reply.Mike BrewerWisconsin

Dear Mike,� is is not just a tractor mag-

azine. We will cover combines, implements and aftermarket prod-ucts. As you read on, you will see that we have covered some of the combines and also have a feature on some of the aftermarket compo-nents used on the tractors. Later in the M&W series we will cover some of their tillage equipment. It will take a lifetime to cover everything manufactured in the muscle tractor era all but we have an inclusion of many of them in each of the upcoming issues of Heritage Iron. Enjoy!

- Sherry

Congratulations Sherry!

Being a serious collector of Vol. 1, No. 1 ag publications, I gotta have the fi rst issue of Heritage Iron and once again, you are right on target with a new magazine zeroing in on muscle tractors and machinery.

I don’t know when you’ll ever have time to sleep with your additional magazine but I’m sure it will be a winner and you probably don’t need sleep anyhow. Dale Wolf, my boss at DuPont Ag and Roy Reiman could get by with four hours of sleep per night and it never slowed their creativity. So, now I know another genius who can “git ‘er done” with minimum down time in the down.

Best of luck to you, Sherry.John HarveyWilmington, DEwww.classictractors.com


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HE S S T O N

, K

S.

Dear John,� ank you for your kind

words and support. Having been around the older tractors for many years, I’ve noticed a diff erent aura when around the muscle tractors. While the old iron may give you a warm and fuzzy feeling remem-bering days gone by, the muscle tractors will send a chill down your spine. It’s an exciting time in the farm equipment indus-try with the many revolutionary innovations.

I can tell you now that the quantity of sleep time has been aff ected by this new magazine, but part of that is because of the excitement of learning about something I didn’t know before. It’s been quite a ride so far and I can’t imagine what the next year is going to be like.

- Sherry

Sherry,I still well remember my fi rst

encounters operating the “mus-cle tractors”.

� e southeastern Pennsylvania area where we live is made up of smaller farms of 100 acres or less under a high state of cultivation. For many years, if any farmer owned a tractor that was larger than 60 hp. it was considered a good-sized tractor.

However, there were several larger farmers in our area, which rented quite a bit of acreage to supply their needs. Since my father had quit farming in 1972 to focus his eff orts on his grow-ing farm supply store, our 50 acres were rented to the Paul Hursh family.

Since Paul needed some part time seasonable help, I as a 15 year old was pressed into service. � e Hursh family’s larg-est tractors consisted of a black stripe International 966 and an

International 1066. Neither of these had cabs. Operating these tractors to fi t land for planting was quite a thrill for this young fellow that had only operated much smaller tractors.

� e ultimate came when I got the chance to operate their newly purchased International 1086 with a cab pulling a Glencoe Soil Saver chisel plow. � is 15 year old, thought life didn’t get any better than this! More than 30 years have passed since those days and I still remember them like it just hap-pened yesterday.

In closing, let me say, you have my best wishes for contin-ued success in your new under-taking with Heritage Iron.

Landis Zimmerman Ephrata, PA

Landis,� ank you for sharing your

muscle memories with us. I’ve known you for 16 years and never knew you ran a big tractor like that. I think we can all remember the fi rst muscle tractor we drove. For me it was an Oliver 990 with the 371 GM engine. As the bum-per sticker says “A man never for-gets the fi rst girl he ever kissed or the fi rst tractor he ever drove.”

– Sherry

Heritage Iron,How about a story on the

MF 180 tractor? In the early 1960’s it was a big change from the MF 65s and 85s. It came stock with all kinds of comfort features and was a nice trac-tor. Who where the people who designed it? I own two of them. � ey age well, have tight front ends and turn sharp.

Marty Colyer

Marty,With 65 pto horsepower, I

wouldn’t consider the MF 180 a muscle tractor but it was defi nitely

in the muscle tractor era and deserves recognition. It was a big step up and Massey marketed the tractor as “� e rugged new breed.” Why don’t you send us a picture of one of your tractors? Pictured here is the tractor used on the sales litera-ture for the Western tractor in 1966.

I’ll do some research and see if I can fi nd out who the designers were for an upcoming story.

– Sherry

Hi Sherry,I’ve been reading Oliver

Heritage for a while now, and I have to say that I am excited about your new magazine, Heritage Iron. I have been com-peting in tractor pulls for the last 24 years with my Cockshutt 50 deluxe and I am currently getting close to fi nishing up a new puller - a big-cube Moline U. But, if I had the space, a bigger hauler and A LOT more money, I would be building a “Muscle Tractor”.

I have always loved the muscle-era tractors. All of the diff erent companies really did something right when they

fi gured out that a turbocharger worked rather well when sitting on top of a 6-cylinder diesel! When I was little (now we are talking the early 70’s, here), I can still remember watching a tractor pull at Flemington, NJ. � is was actually a dead-weight pull on blacktop! But, I can vividly remember seeing a D-21 Allis squaring off against an IH 1206 AND a G1000 Moline!

I didn’t even know that they MADE tractors that big! (We were farming with a Case 730, a Farmall MD and Wd 45 Allis at the time). Talk about making a lasting impact on a child. I still wish that I had any one of these tractors.

So best of luck to you with your new magazine, Sherry. I know that it will be done well and have plenty of great con-tent! Let me know if you’re ever in the Northeast. Maybe you could come to a tractor pull and see the new Moline!Take care,Chris


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� e list of their innovations and improvements is lengthy. It ranges from the IH 9-speed transmission to grain dryers and even golf carts. Over the course of the next year, Heritage Iron will introduce you to many of their products and the men who designed, built and sold them. It is a story that is long overdue.

M&W Gear is the brain-child of Elmo Meiners and Art Warsaw and got its start in Anchor, Illinois in the late 1940’s. Elmo was a grain farmer and also owned the local eleva-tor, Meiners Grain Company. Art was the owner of the local IHC dealership. Farmers expressed their dissatisfaction

GEARby Sherr y Schaef er

COMPANY HISTORY

any innovat ions have

come about through

the years and the name

associated with those wi l l go down

in h is tor y. Thomas Ed ison has been

credi ted for g iv ing us the l ight bu lb .

John Deere received credi t for g iv ing

the wor ld the s tee l p low. But i f there

is a name that should be associated

to g iv ing the farmer “more power” , i t

should be M&W Gear. Th is company

grew into one of the largest prov iders

of products to improve per formance

in farm equipment . Then, when the

tractors had max imum power, M&W

bui l t implements that were des igned

for the more power fu l tractors .

PART I

ElmoMeiners



11

with the lack of speed ranges available in the Farmall M. � ere was a huge gap between 4th and 5th gear, which discour-aged many people from buying the tractor or getting the most effi cient use out of it. Art dis-cussed this problem with his friend, Elmo, and together they set out to fi nd a solution.

Work started in the base-ment of the Meiners Grain Company to build an auxiliary transmission kit, which became known as the 9-speed transmis-sion in 1948. � e fi rst proto-types were built out of wood. For the pattern, a circle was

drawn on the wood and then holes were drilled around the circle with the center of the hole centered on the circle’s line. When all of the holes were drilled, the circle was cut out and then it looked like a gear with teeth. After $50,000 of personal investments and six months of fi eld-testing, Elmo and Art had their fi rst successful prototype.

� e fi rst 9-speed transmis-sion was installed in Elmo’s brother’s 1941 Farmall M. � is tractor became their demon-strator and was aff ectionately named “Bertha”. To promote

“If it doesn’t improve performance or reduce

costs–forget it.”- Elmo Meiners

Rockford Rural schoolhouse which was the fi rst factory of M&W Gear

their new transmission, Bertha was loaded on a truck and began her Midwest tour to IHC deal-erships throughout the grain belt.

By the fall of 1948, Meiners and Warsaw formed the M&W Gear Company and began to manufacture the 9-speed trans-mission for a retail price of $159. M&W was focused on

providing a product that was better then the original equip-ment. Gears for the transmis-sion were ordered from the Illinois Gear Company using a drop forge method of manu-facture. � is assured that each gear was strong, thus prevent-ing breakage, which would be disastrous to the newly formed company. � e teeth were coated


12

An example of earl y products that were the f oundation of M&W Gear

ISSUE 001JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009ISSUE 001

12

HYDRAULIC CONTROL VALVE

LIVE PTO

HYDRAULIC PUMP9-SPEED TRANSMISSION


GOVERNOR LINKAGE

GOVERNOR WEIGHT ASSEMBLY

FRICTION THROTTLE

GEAR REDUCTION STARTER


14

with a special alloy to reduce wear and they were crown shaved so that the load-bearing surface was in the middle of the tooth instead of on the tip. Even though these gears were more expensive than others used, it gave the company a real boost in reliability and proved to be a good investment.

Orders began to pour into M&W Gear. Shipments of parts began to arrive at the grain elevator where assembly was done in the basement. � e two men couldn’t keep up and the basement of the elevator was soon too small. In the fi rst year alone, they sold 1,400 transmis-sion kits.

Knowing that they had to do something soon, they purchased an old abandoned Rockford Rural Schoolhouse for $325. � ey hired six employ-ees who did the fi nal assem-bly and shipped the kits to the dealers. Before long they were sending out 1000 transmis-sions per month. � ey grew so fast that even the Illinois Gear Company couldn’t keep up. M&W then turned to Fairfi eld Manufacturing of Lafayette, IN to become their supplier. � is was a much larger facility that was able to supply gears in the quantities required by M&W.

Art and Elmo had made a vast improvement in the Farmall tractors but they were not fi nished. In 1951, M&W introduced the oversized pis-tons, which took the bore on a Farmall M from 3 7/8” to 4”. � is took the horsepower of an M from 36 to 45. Sales sky-rocketed and before long, farm-ers were demanding that the new M&W sleeves and pistons were installed in new tractors

before they were delivered to the farm.

Soon, even the schoolhouse wasn’t big enough for the grow-ing business. Operations were moved to a building in Anchor, just across from the grain elevator where it all began. In 1952 M&W grossed over $1,400,000 dollars with the sleeves and pistons accounting for 65% of sales.

M&W decided to reach farther than the Farmalls. In short order they were off er-ing these kits for twenty-eight diff erent models of trac-tors. Many tractor companies did not welcome the work of M&W. Many said the extra horsepower would push the tractor to its limits and cause failure in the drive train. In most cases, it did the oppo-site. JD dealers refused to sell M&W products. IH dealer-ships owned by the company were forbidden to sell M&W products. But stores that were independently owned realized the increase of sales and wel-comed M&W.

IH Corporate realized that M&W was heading in the right direction with some of their products and it did point out some of the weak points in the older models. IH set out to make the improvements on their own so the farmer didn’t need to turn to M&W, hoping to squeeze them out of business.

Art Warsaw felt that the company had reached its peak since IH was already incorporat-ing improvements on their new models. Up until this point, Art was a bachelor and lived upstairs in the same house with Elmo and his wife. He told Elmo that he had made enough money to

last him a lifetime and wished to sell out his share of the business. So in 1954, Art sold his share to Bill Ertel of Indianapolis, IN. Ertel Products manufactured pistons, water pumps, valve guides and other products.

Art remained with Elmo for a few more years as an employee. He soon married and started a family and decided that he did NOT have enough money to last him a lifetime. � us he started his own busi-ness known as A&W Dynos in Colfax, IL in 1957. � at’s an entirely diff erent story for another issue.

In the mid 1950’s farm-ers were demanding more improvements to their old tractors in order to keep them from becoming outdated. Live PTO was one of those improvements. IHC off ered this option on the Super M in 1954 but that didn’t help the older models. Obviously IHC wished to sell new tractors, not products to keep the old ones going. M&W Gear saw an opportunity and came out with the live PTO kit for the older tractors.

M&W live hydraulic kits weren’t far behind as well as the friction throttle. With the higher compression created by the oversized pistons, a more powerful starter was required. � is was accomplished with a gear reduction unit that was mounted between the bendix and the starter motor. � is reduction resulted in 73% more cranking power without pur-chasing a new starter. Other products such as the M&W add-Pow’r Governor and the Super Snoot added to the suc-cess of the company.

“Products for Profi table Power Farming ”


In 1955, M&W began their move to Gibson City. � ey took up occupancy in a garage at 523 South Sangamon. � e company now had its own engineering department employing two engineers and four draftsmen.

In 1964 the company pur-chased land on the south side of Gibson City and erected a large modern manufactur-ing facility with over 100,000 square feet under roof. Soon this was not big enough and 5 years later they had expanded to 250,000 square feet. � e facility had a modern R&D department and an in-house advertising and printing depart-ment. In 1969 they bought their own foundry in Pekin, IL to make many of the cast prod-ucts sold by M&W.

M&W had five branch houses located in Des Moines, IA, Memphis, TN, Lansing, MI, Columbus, WI and Columbus, NE. There were 9,000 dealers scattered throughout the US and over ninety factory trained special-ist to assist farmers and deal-ers. In addition Elmo had a 4800-acre test farm where each product was tested to the limits. According to Elmo, 75% of the products tested didn’t make it past the field. He had a sign hanging in his office. “If it doesn’t improve performance or reduce costs – forget it.” This was his motto and he stuck to it. He was also the type of many who wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself. He stood behind his products and his long-term warranties proved it. Some companies offered a

90-day warranty on their pis-ton and sleeve kits. If you overhauled your tractor in the winter, the warranty had run out by the time you got to the field. M&W Gear had a war-ranty that lasted one full year or 1200 tractor hours, which-ever occurred first.

Over the next 25 years, Elmo turned the company into a major short-line company producing, tillage tools, wag-ons, turbos kits, grain dryers and many other products. He retired from M&W in 1989. Elmo was not one to sit around waste his energy. He started another company during the 1980 and continued to work with his “other” business after his retirement from M&W Gear. You’ll learn more about “Elmco” in the next issue of Heritage Iron.

Today M&W Gear is owned by the Alamo Group and still producing tillage tools and many other products in the same facility that Elmo built during the 1960’s.

Elmo Meiners did not set out to build the most power-ful components to be put on a tractor. He set out to develop products that would make a tractor work more economi-cally. Their trademark saying was “Products for Profitable Power Farming”. Profitability was the key. Their innova-tions weren’t just to get the farmer to the other end of the field ahead of anyone else. It was to get you there with less strain and more fuel in the tank after a comparable days work:

• More Drawbar Power• Better Fuel Economy• Longer Engine Life

M&W DynamometerTurbo Dome PistonsLittle Red WagonPerfect Kern’l DryerM&W 9-speed TransmissionJet Black SleevesSuper SnootRobot Header ControlsFat FrontsEarthmasterTrashmaster

SPECIAL THANKS TO:Elmo Meiners, Ron

Meiners, Diz, Dale, Paul Beilfeldt and the many oth-ers who let me talk to them for hours so I could get the “real story”. It has been an honor and a pleasure to be in your company.

In the next issue of Heritage Iron, we’ll take a closer look at some of the products off ered to make your machine a true “muscle tractor.”

Products made famous by M&W Gear


16

n 1953, M&W orchestrated a demonstration of their prod-

ucts that was open to the public. � e fi rst M&W Power Show was held at the Carl Albert’s farm in Colfax, IL and was a one-day event. � is show grew tremen-dously into a national event. Other manufacturers set up tents to show their products and it drew crowds up to two-hundred thousand during the 3-day event. With a large crowd of voters on hand, many political dignitaries made their appearance known at these venues.

� is event incorporated a true display of horsepower. Tractor pulls became a competi-tive way for a real demonstration of power. Many of the competi-tors used every power aid com-ponent available from M&W.

When these pulls started, a young man from the Chicago area was enlisted as the announcer. � at man was Orion Samuelson. � is event lasted for 20 years with the last power show held in Anchor in 1973. It left its mark on the industry and set the bar for future farm shows.

Ahhh, the good old days of tractor pulling when men lined the sides of the pulling track then jumped on the sled as it passed by.

POWERSHOW

THE

A young man working for WGN radio served as the announcer for the tractor pull giving the winner his trophy as Elmo Meiners smiles in the background, probably because he sold the winner the pistons he had in his tractor. The young announcer is none other that well-known ag personality – Orion Samuelson

The Oliver name had a bold appearance on the farm equipment market from 1855 until 1976. By 1976 none of the Oliver family members held any shares in the company. White Motors, the parent company of Oliver, had acquired Cockshutt and Minneapolis-Moline. Not wanting to own three separate farm equipment companies, they were all lumped together to form one. The tractors were redesigned to become White tractors with a metallic silver paint. On February 13, 1976, the last tractor to bear the Oliver name rolled of f the assembly line in Charles City, Iowa, ending 121 years of Oliver and the familiar Meadow Green color.


18

HOMESEVERY COLLECTOR SHOULD SEE!

Part I THE HOMES OF OLIVERby CINDY L ADAGE


o t ano t her

tract or show! ”

says t he

spouse o f an av id co l lect or

t hat i s sur e t hey ar e

about t o be dragged t o

ye t ano t her show. Won’ t

he or she be surpr ised

and hopefu l l y de l ight ed t o

learn t hat t he i r co l lect or

dec ided ins t ead t o o f fer

t hem t he so f t er s ide o f

t he hobby and t ake t he i r

be loved t o t our a h is t or ic

house . No t jus t any

h is t or ic home, mind you ,

but one t hat has a f amous

owner, w i t h an ant ique

tract or connect ion .

On the back of this vintage 1908 postcard is the handwritten message “ Dear Ethel, This is the home of the richest man in South Bend. – Dorthea”

“

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009

Get out your calendar and start making plans to get out and see some of the great history behind the men and women that designed the equipment you have come to admire. � is is the fi rst of a series of articles about places you can go to learn a bit about the history of your favorite equipment heroes while becom-ing a hero in your own home.

Variety is the spice of life they say, so rev up your vis-its with a tour of one of these historic homes. Whether you are an Oliver fan or not, the two homes I mention below are worth seeing.

From the history I dug up, James Oliver traveled from Scotland to Indiana at the age of eleven and eventually became famous when he developed a technique to make iron plow blades as hard and resistant as steel. � e “Oliver chilled plow” made Oliver a household name and a famous person in the South Bend, Indiana area and the world beyond Indiana as his design soon became known worldwide.

While James was a known genius with equipment, it was James’s son, J.D., that helped him make the business a fi nan-cial success. Using the money

OLIVER 2255

COPSHAHOLM


20

from his ventures, J.D. Oliver built the beautiful mansion called Copshaholm.

� e Copshalom website shares a bit about the house. “It was over 100 years ago that 20th century industrial-ist J.D. Oliver his wife, Anna, and their four children moved into their new home at 808 West Washington Street--

Copshaholm as they would later name it. Built in 1895-96, Copshaholm is a 38-room Romanesque Queen Anne house designed by New York architect Charles Alonzo Rich.”

� e original furnishings remain just as the house was when the last owner lived there. � e home remained in the

family until it was donated to the Center for History Museum. Along with a museum that off ers history of South Bend (which includes some Oliver history as well) a collector can tour both the home and Center for History Museum for the same small fee. Culture and a tractor related trip, what more could a collector want?

� e website http://www.centerforhistory.org/cops.html added a bit of infor-mation about the Olivers and this magnifi cent house. “…J. D. Oliver was presi-dent of the Oliver Chilled Plow Works located in South Bend, Indiana. � e com-pany was founded by J. D.’s

father, James, inventor of the chilled plow. Copshaholm is built of native Indiana fi eld-stone. � e stones were cut on site by masons brought from Europe. Copshaholm was one of the fi rst homes in South Bend to have electricity, with power being generated by the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. Surrounding Copshaholm

are 2.5 acres of landscaped gardens, including a garden tea house, formal Italianate garden, rose garden, pergola, tennis lawn, and fountain. Copshaholm and its gardens are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Copshaholm is registered as an American Treasure.”

� e home and Center for History Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, 12 to 5 p.m. Tours are off ered at 11 a.m., 1p.m. and 2 p.m. Monday - Saturday, and 1 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. � e tour starts off a brief video presentation and the tour lasts approximately 90 minutes. � e only downside is

that the homes are not handi-capped accessible.

While the beautiful Copshaholm is the crown jewel of the Oliver homes in South Bend, there is another diff erent option as well. You can tour and actually stay the night at a home formally owned by the Oliver family.

“Copshaholm was one of the fi rst homes in South Bend to have electric-ity, with power being gener-ated by the Oliver Chilled Plow Works. ”

For more information on the homes visit the

websites:

www.centerforhistory.org

www.oliverinn.com

www.tippe.com

www.studebakermuseum.org

OLIVER INN


Tom and Alice Erlandson own the Oliver Inn, which is a beautiful Victorian bed and breakfast. � e home is con-nected to the Oliver family because in January 4, 1897, James Oliver bought this home for his daughter Josephine Oliver Ford.

� e Fords lived in the home until Josephine died and

her niece, Gertrude Oliver Cunningham and her hus-band, Frederick, moved into the house in 1918. Tom and Alice Erlandson shared, “After Gertrude’s death in 1987, at the age of 99, her children donated this home, as well as the home of their grandpar-ents “Copshaholm”, to the Northern Indiana Historical

Society. � e Cunningham home was sold to help establish an endowment for the mainte-nance of Copshaholm, the fam-ily mansion, as a museum of the Society.”

You can stay at the Oliver Inn and the next day, take a tour of Copshaholm. This makes a nice little getaway and a chance to see some of

the Oliver history up close and personal plus add a little romance in at the same time. Contact Thomas and Alice Erlandson at (888) 697-4466 for details. They also offer a three mansion package which allows a night at the Oliver Inn, a tour of the Inn, a tour of the Copshaholm and the

Northern Indiana Center for History Museum and din-ner at the former Studebaker mansion, Tippecanoe. Right next to the Center for History Museum is the Studebaker Museum - just to add another reason to visit and stay in South Bend.

22 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009ISSUE 001

Rod Larson - Sheridan, IL Photo by Super T


23

by Sherr y Schaef er

i t h the introduct ion of Her i tage

Iron, your muscle tractor

connect ion , i t is on l y f i t t ing to

feature the f i r s t row crop tractor to surpass the

100 horsepower barr ier at the Nebraska s tate

tractor tes t – the Farmal l 1206.


“The D-361 and DT-361 engines appeared to be similar on the outside, but the DT-361 was internally modifi ed in order to stand up to the extra power of a turbo-charged engine. ”


� e little brothers to the 1206 were the 706 and 806. Both of those models were introduced in 1963. Although Farmall had planned to intro-duce the 1206 shortly thereaf-ter, the high-horsepower tractor created a problem that was not easily fi xed. Anyone involved in tractor pulling knows that all the horsepower you can get out of a machine doesn’t mean a thing unless you can hook it to the ground. � e 1206 could hook it to the ground due to a weak point in the link.

� e tires of that era were not suffi cient enough to take such a high-horsepower deliv-ery. During testing, the side-walls of the tires were buckling and some of them even spun off the rims. International spent nearly two years working with Goodyear and Firestone to develop a tire that would hold up. In 1965 Firestone intro-duced the 18.4-38 that was designed specifi cally for the IH 1206. � is tire has reduced lug angle, extra casing and lug strength. After trying for two years to get the 1206 on the market, it was fi nally a reality.

� e 1206 was tested in Nebraska in September of 1965 with test number 910. It put out a PTO horsepower of 112.6 and 99.6 on the drawbar. It was the fi rst two-wheel drive International Harvester farm tractor to be tested with a turbocharged engine. Power was provided by a DT-361. � is was the same basic engine used in the 806 but had

Darick Franzen - McHenry, IL Photo by Super T


the addition of a turbocharger. � e 1206 engine had a special hardened seven-main crank. It had larger oil passages, twin jet oil-cooled pistons and a larger oil cooler. � e high capacity cooling system and radiator resulted in a 25% increase in cooling.

� e turbo on the 1206 was provided by Solar, which was a

subsidiary of IH. Because of the use of a turbo, this tractor was never equipped with a muffl er. A 14” ceramic clutch, known as the Dyna-Life, was used and estimated to last fi ve times longer than the older asbestos clutch. � e bull gears and fi nal drives were ½ and inch wider than those used on the 806.

� e 1206 was built as both the International 1206 model and the Farmall 1206. For those unfamiliar with the dif-ferences between a Farmall and an International – the Farmall is the Row Crop variation of the International. � erefore, an International 1206 is a stan-dard tread model. A Farmall

1206 is a Row Crop model. � e International 1206 has the head-lights mounted inside the grill. � e Farmall 1206 has the lights mounted inside the rear fenders.

With the introduction of the 1206, International introduced the fl at top fenders, known as the deluxe fenders. At this same time, they became optional


equipment on the 706 and 806. Very early fl at top fenders only had the hand hole cut into the left fender. A hand hole was soon added to the right fender too. A solid right-hand fender is a rarity among collectors today.

� e decaling for the 1206 consisted of a white decal wording of “Turbo” placed on the hood

just behind the radiator. On the lower side panels were the words 1206 Diesel in white. � is decal continued until sometime in 1966 when it was replaced by a metal tag designed to match that of the 706 and 806.

� e Row Crop model had a choice of wide front or nar-row front. It was also available

with a front wheel assist option. With this option it was tagged an “all wheel drive”. � e International was available as a Wheatland model (standard tread) or as an industrial. � e industrial variation of this trac-tor was known as the 21206 and painted yellow, the standard color of the industrial line.

� e tractor was built from the ground up to be a “muscle tractor”. It used a Category III, 3-point hitch. It had a bigger clutch, dual stage air cleaners with a 55% increase in air clean-ing capacity. It had a 25% larger cooling capacity. A bigger trac-tor meant bigger equipment and the result was the new 700 series

“The constant increase in acreage of American farms has required bigger and more powerful tractors. ” – 1966 IH Annual Report


28

plow. � is 7-bottom automatic reset beam plow was the perfect fi t for the new 7-plow tractor.

Although the torque ampli-fi er was a very successful com-ponent on the red tractors since 1954, it was not standard equipment on any of the 06 series tractors. � e TA could be added for an additional $320. Most problems that did plague the TA through the years were mostly due to the improper engaging method used. You cannot baby a TA. In order to keep the tractor from jumping, most engaged the TA slowly, which caused the clutch to slip. � is was such a problem that one company located in Iowa who rebuilds TAs has recom-mended removing the solid link-age and using the TA lever to activate an electric switch. � e switch automatically engages the TA. By doing this, you elimi-nate the clutch slippage thus extended the life and service of the TA. When this method is provided by the Iowa company, they will even extend the war-ranty on their TA.

� is tractor was truly ahead of its time. Had tire technol-ogy kept up with the 1206, the tractor might have made its appearance in 1963 instead of 1965. Production num-bers for the Farmall 1206 were just over 8400 units built. � e International 1206 models totaled nearly 1600 tractors, which included the industrial models. � is tractor, which has become a favorite among collectors, was replaced in 1967 by the 1256.

“You almost forget how big this outfi t is – thanks to power steering, power brakes, fast hydraulics and an armchair seat. ”


COMPARISON DATASPECIFICATIONS IH 1206 AC D-21 MM G-1000

OBSERVED PTO HORSEPOWER . . . .110 . . . . . . . . 103.06. . . . . . . . . . . 101DSL

108 LPG

OBSERVED DRAWBAR . . . . . . . .98 . . . . . . . . . 95.38 . . . . . . . . . . . 96 DSL

HORSEPOWER 94 LPG

CID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .361TURBO . . . . . 426 . . . . . . . . . . . . 504

COMPRESSION RATIO . . . . . . . .17:1 . . . . . . . . 16:1

RPM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2400 . . . . . . . . 2200 . . . . . . . . . . . 1800

FUEL TANK . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 GAL. . . . . . . 52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 DSL

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . .12-VOLT . . . . . . 12-VOLT . . . . . . . . . . 12-VOLT

TWO 12-VOLT BATTERIES

STANDARD TRANSMISSION . . . . .SLIDING GEAR . . . CONSTANT MESH . . . . . . AMPLI-TORC SLIDING GR.

GEAR SELECTIONS . . . . . . . . . .8F, 4R . . . . . . . 8F, 2R . . . . . . . . . . . 10F, 2R

TA: 16F, 8R

WHEELBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . .101” . . . . . . . . 96 1/8” . . . . . . . . . . 103

TREAD RANGE . . . . . . . . . . . .56-94 . . . . . . . 70-82 . . . . . . . . . . . 64-96


30

FARMALL 12061965: 7501-86251966: 8626-127301967: 12731-15903

IH 12061965: 7501-77711966: 7772-84911967: 8492-9090

(Serial number plate located on the left side of the clutch housing)

SPECIFICATIONS:PTO Horsepower: . . . . . . 110Drawbar: . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Governed Speed: . . . . . . 2400Fuel Tank: . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 gallonsWheel base: . . . . . . . . . . 101”Weight : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8580 lbs.Transmission: . . . . . . . . . 8 Forward – 4 ReverseTransmission w/TA: . . . . 16 Forward – 8 ReverseList pr ice in 1965: . . . . . $8002

BUILT AT THE FARMALL WORKS INROCK ISL AND, IL

Rod Larson - Sheridan, IL Photo by Super T



32

MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MINI MUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLEThe Toys of 1970

y 1970, the Er t l Company

of Dyersv i l le , Iowa was

leading the industr y on the

manufacture of toys . Fred Er t l , Sr. had

ret ired and Fred Er t l , Jr. had become

the pres ident . At th is t ime, the

company was no longer fami l y owned

but Fred Jr. cont inued to lead the

company unt i l h is ret irement in 1992.

MIN

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Ertel manufactured their fi rst toy in 1945 and it was a cast aluminum replica of an Allis-Chalmers WC. It was crude by today’s standards and the front axle was actually a nail. But 25 years later, Ertl had taken over most of the business formerly had by companies such as Eska, Tru-Scale, Vindex and Arcade. � ey were the company to turn to if you wanted a rep-lica made of your farm tractor or implement.

� e 1970 Ertl catalog shows nearly 100 diff erent toys off ered to toy retailers. � e NEW tractors for that year included the Case Agri-King 1070, the Massey 1080 and the Ford 8000. � ere were many other models available, such as: Oliver 1850, MM G1000, IH 1256, AC 190 plus many more. Implements from gravity wag-ons to balers that ejected little green plastic bales were available to add to the fun.

Ertl also included the Gleaner combine, New Holland combine and other equip-ment, Cub Cadet w/cart and

blade and even tilt bed trucks to haul your equipment to the next sand box. � e big prize was the Ertl Farm set. � is was every child’s dream and at one time I had one of these sets in the Oliver variation. Ford and IH also off ered a full set, which included a tractor, plow wagons and sometimes a disk. If you had a “Super” farm set, it also included a manure spreader.

If farming wasn’t enough to keep your attention, Ertl off ered an entire set of construc-tion equipment tagged as IH, Wabco, AC and Caterpillar. � ese consisted of payloaders, bulldozers, backhoes, disks and sheep’s foot rollers.

For the kids that really wanted to go somewhere, Ertl provided the pedal tractors. Available in 1970 were the Ford 8000, � e AC 190, the Oliver 1850, the Case 1070 and the IH 856. Each of these were also available with their own trailer to match the tractor.

You may have noticed that no John Deere models have yet been mentioned and there is a reason


for that. All of these toys were off ered to toy retailers by Ertl. Each of the companies provided a license to Ertl to manufacture their products, yet they could be sold anywhere. John Deere, however, wanted exclusive sell-ing rights to their toys. � ey had their own catalog printed full of just JD toys and those were dis-tributed among their dealers only.

� is may also be the rea-son that the Case 1070 Black Knight Demonstrator is also absent from the catalog. � ere were only to be distributed by Case dealers and were built in limited quantities. Today that toy can bring up to $1000 new in the box.

� e absolute rarest of the toys produced in 1970 by Ertl has to be the Green Acres DeLuxe Farm Set built for Oliver. It featured Oliver Wendell Douglas and Lisa on

the box along with the most famous pig to hit the big screen, Arnold. � e set included an 1850 tractor and four imple-ments in 1/16th scale. Another set was built in 1/32 scale. After the toys were built and manu-factured, a discrepancy over licensing rights between CBS and Oliver took place. � e toys were recalled and allegedly the boxes were destroyed. A few of them did make their way into the hands of collectors and they are literally worth thousands.

� e 1970’s toys are highly col-lectible today. Of course, original-ity makes them worth more and the grand prize would be if you still have the box up in the attic and the mice haven’t eaten it yet.

Thanks to Ebay and some very successful toy auction-eers, it is not impossible to find the toy of your dreams if you are patient.

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REAL RIDING TRACTOR/CYCLES AND TRAILERS

4-1154-115


34

The



4-115


uring the 1960’s, the

construction industry was

focused on automation. They

wanted to get away from back-breaking

labor and reduce manpower. The Kennedy

Administration was dumping money into

construction in order to boost the economy.

With this combination, there was more

of a demand for construction equipment

than ever before. Many ag tractor

manufacturers were already building an

industrial versions of their tractors but the

demand was for higher horsepower models

that could do more work.

In the early 1960’s a national organization was formed called the Industrial Equipment Manufacturers Council. � e function of this organization was to provide industry data, sales numbers, trends and gen-eral information to the indus-trial manufacturers. Companies used this data to make their manufacturing decisions.

Many of the ag companies such as IH, JD, AC, MF, Ford and Oliver, were members of the IEMC. � e council reported that its members sold at retail over $400 million in 1966 and predicted that sales would exceed $1 billion in 1972. � is was a growing market and the larger ag tractor manufacturers wanted in on it.

While most manufactur-ers had industrial models, Oliver formed the Contractors Equipment Division (CED). � is division operated sepa-rately from the ag division and

had their own industrial dealers. � ey even had

their own traveling road show used to promote the prod-uct line, known as Industrial Progress in Action.

Until this point, Oliver used the same numeric desig-nation for its ag and industrial models. � ere was an Oliver 1950 ag model but the same basic model in the industrial line was also known as a 1950. However, the CED announced that eff ective January 1, 1967, all industrial models would have a new number designation and a new name. It was the “Mighty-Tow” tractor line. � e back-hoes became known as Might-Hoes and the forklifts became Mighty-Lifts.

� e numeric designation was easy to decipher. � e fi rst number identifi ed if it was 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive. � e second number was the desig-nated horsepower rating. � e 4-144 Mighty Tow was a 4-wheel drive model with 144 horsepower.


36

� e smallest tractor in the Mighty-Tow line was a 2-44. � is tractor was the industrial version of the Oliver 550. � e largest tractor in the series was the 4-144 EHD. � is was the industrial version of the Oliver 2150. � e EHD designated “extra heavy duty” which rep-resented planetary axles on both the front and back axles of the tractor.

White Motors owned both Oliver and Minneapolis-Moline. � ey operated sepa-rately for many years but in 1969, White decided to throw them both together. � e White Construction Equipment (WCE) division was formed as a new division of the White Motor Corporation, replacing the former CED. � e Oliver name was removed from the tractors and replaced with the White name, but only on the industrial models.

� e 4-115 was powered by a 4:53 Detroit engine or as many refer to it, the Screaming Jimmy. It was a real brute and they were

quite popular in both ag and industrial. With the Hydra-Power Drive Transmission in the 4-115, the operator had 12 forwards speeds. With the pull of a lever, you could increase pull 36% while reducing travel speed only 25%. � is machine was favorable to the road builder and land developer.

A typical load for this machine was a 12-yard elevating scraper or a 9’ off set disk with 26” blades. When hooked up to railroad cars or wagon trains, it had a drawbar pull of 12,900 pounds. It could be weighted up to pull twin 60” rollers weighing 40,000.

Oliver started to build the Industrial 1950 in 1965 as a replacement for the 1900. Of course in 1967 it became the 4-115. � e ag model was phased out in 1970 with the introduction of the 55 series Olivers. However, the 4-115 lived on in very limited numbers until 1974. From 1970 through 1974, there were on the average, less than 75 built per year.

Tractors that were up against the 4-115 during its peak production consisted of the IH 21206 and the JD 700A. The IH model was available with front wheel assist but the JD was not.

“The 4-115 was powered by a 4:53 Detroit

engine or as many refer to it,

the Screaming Jimmy.”

“It was a real brute”JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009ISSUE 001

36

MODEL 4-115 MIGHT Y TOW TRACTORREGUL AR EQUIPMENT

TRACTOR 1965 1966 % INCREASE or DECREASE

9-34 H.P. 10,053 8,931 - 1135-39 H.P. 9,841 10,887 +1040-49 H.P. 11,309 14,012 +2450-59 H.P. 2,035 3,723 +8260-69 H.P. 643 799 +2470-79 H.P. 230 389 +2680-99 H.P. 276 440 +60100 & Over 892 753 - 15

Total 35,279 39,934 +13

CED RETAIL SALES

Dupont Nason Paint CodeYellow - YS2731EWhite Frost - P73561E


The 1965 Price Sheet shows what was standard equipment on the 4-115 before options were added. Bare weight was 13,000 pounds.


� e tractor pictured in this story is the 4-115, which is the industrial version of the Oliver 1950. � is particular trac-tor is a 1966 model that was shipped to the Oliver branch in Memphis, TN. It was sold through the Little Rock dealer-ship of Rushing and Mason. It was used as the lead tractor for a cable plow crew. Whenever the cable plow tractor got stuck,

this tractor was used to keep the operation going.

When Van Doosing and his son, Brandon located this tractor, it was in rough condi-tion. It only had 4200 on it but had spent most of its life outside. It was a running model but they wanted to make sure it was mechanically sound. � e put new bearings and seals in the engine, replaced all hoses

BEFORE THE RESTORATION


and belts, put a new radiator core in it and went through the transmission. When they pulled the fi lter out of the air cleaner out, it still had the date of 1965 on it, indicating that it was the original fi lter placed in the trac-tor when new.

Once the tractor was returned to perfect mechanical condition, they stripped it down for a perfect paint job. Brandon has a degree in autobody and put an automotive fi nish on the tractor. When trying to match the paint, they nar-rowed it down to three choices. Brandon took three small bot-tles of paint and painted stripes on the inside of the panel that still had good paint on it. � ey were set to dry overnight. From a distance you could see two of the stripes but one of them appeared invisible. � at was the paint chosen since it seemed to be the perfect match.

Today the tractor leads an easy life, going to a few shows and waking up anyone in its path with its roaring GM engine. Many people ask why they didn’t paint it back to green but anyone who has seen this tractor will realize that leaving it in its industrial clothes was the best choice.

In recent years, the indus-trial line has become more col-lectible. Many of the industrial versions had diff erent gear-ing than the ag models. Some were strengthened with thicker frames, heavier wheels, etc. With most brands, there are more diff erences between the ag and industrial models besides the color. So if you’re thinking about painting that industrial model green, red or any other color, think twice. Remember an industrial model is much tougher to fi nd.

“Today the tractor leads an easy life, going to a few shows and waking up anyone in its path with its roaring GM engine.”

40

Typically, a buyers guide will show the full line of equipment available by that company, rang-ing from tractors to combines to balers. � ese guides were mailed directly from the com-pany, not the dealer. A dealer always provided the company with a list of customers. As new customers were taken on, they would be added to this list.

In the case of the JD buyers guides, these were mailed early in the year. JD fi rst started mailing these out in the early 1900’s. � e buyers guide of 1961 was the fi rst issue not to

feature the 2-cylinder tractors. � e debut of the new genera-tion tractors make this one of the most highly sought after among collectors.

� ese guides went out every year in an 8 ½”x11” for-mat until 1968. � at year JD decided that they would send out the same style of buyers guide as they had in the past. However, they also sent out a smaller pamphlet style book-let, which showed only the NEW equipment for that year. � erefore, there were actually TWO buyers guides in 1968.


JDBuyers Guides

ales l i t erature has become h igh l y co l lect ib le

today and companies l i ke eBay have opened up

the market , making some i tems eas ier to f ind .

In addi t ion to your ind iv idual sa les p ieces, many companies

prov ided buyers gu ides once or twice a year. John Deere’s

adver t is ing depar tment mai led one out per year.

1935 JD Buyers Guide The 1961 Buyers Guide introducing the New Generation tractors

In 1969, the large format buyers guide was dropped and JD only sent out the smaller booklet introducing the new equipment for 1969. � is booklet measures approximately 4”x9” and has around a dozen pages, depending on the year.

� is “New for 19xx” buyers guide continued in this format until 1986. At that time, JD went back to the larger format buyers guide. � ey also had the


41

small format booklet. So there were also two buyers guides in 1986, just like in 1968. However, this was the last year for the small format “New Equipment” book-let. � e advertising department went back to the full line buyers guide the next year.

In 1989, the buyers guide was printed as an oversized booklet. From a mailing stand-point, this was an awkward size and it was the only year this size was used. In 1990, the advertising department of JD went back to the standard 8 ½ x 11 format.

� ese collectible buyers guides continued until 1992. To the best of our knowledge, they have not been printed since.

As for their value, prices vary from $15-90 depending on condition and availability. � e small format 1968 and 1969 “New Equipment” guides seem to be the toughest to fi nd. So if you’re looking for something else to collect, don’t pass up the buyers guides, no matter what color they are.

“These collectible buyers guides continued until 1992.”

to be the toughest to fi nd. So if you’re looking for something else to collect, don’t pass up the buyers guides, no matter what

This is the fi rst “small” new equipment buyers guide to be sent out.

This is the last Buyers Guide to be sent out by JD.



42

(1960-1985)

hi l ip Shaw farms near Dresden Ontar io

Canada. He is a farmer, agr icu l tura l

economis t , commodity anal ys t , broadcaster

and publ ic speaker. H is work is publ ished across the

United States and Canada. H is wr i t ing and podcasts

are archived at www.phi l ipshaw.ca

CANADIAN COMBINESIN THE HERITAGE ERABy Phil ip Shaw

)

CANADIAN CANADIAN COMBINESCOMBINES

Canada is a big country. Stretching across six times zones from the Atlantic to the Pacifi c to the North Pole, there is a lot of distance to cover. In between there are many crops to combine. In the heritage era of 1960-1985 there have been many combine choices. However, those choices varied between Eastern Canada and Western Canada. � is month in Heritage Iron, we will look at those.

Western Canada is full of huge fi elds of wheat, barley, canola, and pulses (edible seeds). In Manitoba, you do fi nd some corn, soybeans and edible beans. In Eastern Canada, the fi elds are smaller, sometimes the lan-guage is French and the main crops are corn, soybeans and wheat. � roughout the years, Canadians have bought, fi xed and cajoled their combines for greater and greater productiv-ity. In fact, Canadian com-bines grew famous with Massey Ferguson supporting and equip-ping harvest brigades through-out the western United States and Western Canada.

� roughout Western Canada, there are big diff er-ences with regard to topogra-phy and climate. Generally, the southern regions of the three Prairie Provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are dryer than the northern dis-tricts. Depending on the type

MF 860

JD 6601

IH 914

CI 9600


(1960-1985)

“Canada is a big country.”

of crop that was grown, farmers in the heritage era, either chose to “direct cut” the crop versus using swathers or windrowers to fi rst cut the crop into a wind-row, then come in with a pull-type combine to harvest.

In the 1960’s, the big tran-sition took place between the older “thrashing machines” and the more traditional “com-bine” which we know today. According to Les Hill of the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, pull type com-bines were very popular in Western Canada during the 1960’s. However, there was also a move toward “SP’s” or self-propelled combines like the Massey Harris 21 and 27, the Cockshutt self-propelled and the International 125 and 127.

By the dawn of the 1970’s the threshing machine was vir-tually gone, replaced by self-pro-pelled and pull type combines.

1976, according to Les Hill of PAMI, an International pull type combine 914 listed at $13,000. (Canadian Dollars) A pull type John Deere 6601 listed for $14,000. A self-pro-pelled machine with the same capacity would sell for $25,000 to $30,000.

From 1975 to 1980 Massey Ferguson dominating the world market for combines repre-senting approximately 50%

of the world market. � e MF 750/760 dominated the western Canadian market. � ese com-bines and the later models, the MF 850 and 860 were instru-mental in the movement to direct cut grain crops.

By 1985, the Western Canadian combine market was divided up 30% Massey Ferguson, 30% International, 30% John Deere and 10% all of the rest such as Gleaner, the TR Twin Rotor New Holland series, Versatile, Roto � resh and even the made in Manitoba Coop Implements CI 9600 Volvo Machine which was widely sold in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Massey Harris/Ferguson domi-nated Western Canadian com-bine sales. For instance com-bines like the MF 82 and Super 92 were very popular.

At that time, virtually every-thing was swathed in Western Canada. For instance, the short growing season with the threat of frost is always an issue. Swathing grain always makes a more uni-form crop to combine. With the advent of more powerful tractors, pull type combines enjoyed a renaissance to harvest these crops in the mid to late 1970’s. � e International 914 and John Deere 6601 pull type combines were very popular during this period.

Part of the reason pull type combines were popular in Western Canada was their lesser cost versus self propelled machines. For instance in


� e Versatile Trans/axial 2000 (1980-85) pull type com-bine was particularly revolution-ary in Western Canadian fi elds. Grain came into a cylinder then separated into two twin rotors emptying out into a six foot wide cleaning shoe. � is system is still used on modern day Lexicon combines. � e Versatile combine also featured unique unloading on either side of the combine.

� e western “Roto � resh” was built in Saskatchewan. It had a Massey Cylinder and con-cave. Grain then was sent back into a big separation drum, which gave it the nickname Roto “Separator”. Regrettably, these machines had their prob-lems and the company was short lived.

In Eastern Canada dur-ing the 1960’s, combines transformed themselves for

corn production. In 2008 there is corn grown in parts of Manitoba, and much of Ontario and Quebec. However, in the 1960’s Canada’s major corn producing area was in southwestern Ontario. Corn pickers, which took whole ears off the stalk, harvested most of the corn at the start of the decade. With the advent of self-propelled combines, mov-ing to “shelled corn” became the

norm. Many of the combines in Eastern Canada during the 1960’s led the way with corn stripper heads.

Murray Northcott, a long time salesman for McGrail’s Farm Equipment near Chatham Ontario has watched it all hap-pen. John Deere produced the 45, 55, 95 and 105 combines during the 1960’s. In order to do “shelled corn” these com-bines came with what was called

the “Corn Special”. � is meant that a John Deere combine such as the 105 with a 49.5-inch cyl-inder came with fi ller plates and a deep tooth chaff er to better thrash corn.

Mr. Northcott commented, at the time the “corn heads” for the John Deere combines were more of a “corn head plus feeder housing” which attached straight to the cylinder, unlike today’s modern heads which attach to the feeder housing. Mr. Northcott commented in the diffi cultly of attaching these to the combines. � ey were so heavy that he actually had an

auto wrecker lift it in order to attach it to the combine. He said the auto wrecker could barely get it done.

In 1970, John Deere replaced these combines with the 3300, 4400,6600 and the 7700. One of the major diff er-ences in these John Deere com-bines was having the engine in the front beside the cab. � ese combines were later transformed in the early 1980’s into the 6620, 7720 and 8820 Titan II combines which had much big-ger separation area and elevator legs and also more horsepower for these capacity requirements.

WESTERNROTO THRESH

WHITE 8650

Versatile TA 2000 Submitted from Les Hill at PAMI. This very interesting machine out of Manitoba was the forerunner of today’s modern Lexicon combine.

VERSATILETA 2000


45

JD 6600 SH

JD 8820 TII

In the 1960’s, Massey Ferguson was dominant in com-bine sales in Eastern Canada. After the Massey Ferguson 82 and 92, Massey Ferguson launched the 300, 410 and 510 combines. � ese combines were extremely popular and were instrumental in the move to shelled corn in Ontario. Where at one time farmers had to crank the unloading augers out for unloading, these newer com-bines featured an auger, which was extended with hydraulics, a major improvement on elbow grease.

Later into the 1970’s, Massey Ferguson brought out the 550, 750 and 760 com-bines to replace the previous series, which were very popular in Eastern Canada. Later into the 1980’s, Massey Ferguson replaced these combines with the 850 and 860 models. With this change came some of the fi rst electronic monitors, header height control and variable reel speeds. Many of these combines still dot Canadian farm country.


JD 7720 II & MF 860

GLEANER L2

MF 8560

CASE IH1660


During the heritage era (1960-1985) in both Western and Eastern Canada, farmers were initially transitioning into combine cabs on their self-propelled machines. Canadian cold in the fall and heat in the summer was always a concern. As time went by the heaters got

better and so did the air con-ditioners. Combine cabs were here to stay.

� ere were other brands such as Case and White, which produced combines through-out this era. When compared with John Deere and Massey Ferguson, they were small

players. However, they did enjoy their niches within the Canadian landscape.

From the northern Peace River district of Alberta with its 20 hours of sunlight to the fl at plains of southwestern Ontario and beyond, Canadian farm-ers have steadfastly persevered

through the years. � ere were many challenges and surely some of them were keep-ing those combines going for another day. It was a golden era, one for the ages and one, which formed a foundation for where we are today.

Claas 108 from PAMI

CLAAS 108

CI 9850 (CLAAS 96)

Claas 108 from PAMI

CLAAS 108

Coop Implements 9850 (Claas 96) This combine had a gear box mounted where the power take of f shaft is. It powered the combine by a long belt from there. The gearbox changed the speed from 1000 rpm’s to 3000 rpm’s. There was a bit of a problem with this machine when turning short for obvious reasons and problems with the gearbox and belts. (1980)


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Jason,� is is the fi rst installment of the column “Machinery

Milestones”. I’m guessing this will be 4 pages. It is the same style of story that Larry writes for the HPOCA called Historical Highlights (which I started when I was the editor there). � e cap-tions are at the bottom of the page and pictures are numbered accordingly. I noted which paragraph goes with which picture. Hopefully it will be clear to you. If you have any questions, just holler. - Sherry

rom the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, farmers kept

requesting more power as they increased the size of

their farms. Some innovative farmers demonstrated

this need by connecting two 2-wheel-dr ive tractors together,

which enabled one operator to uti l ize more power for t i l lage

work. The tractor companies responded by designing and

bui lding larger 2-wheel-dr ive tractors, providing front-wheel

assists, and adding 4-wheel-dr ive models.

� e John Deere 30 series of 2-cylinder tractors was new for 1959. � e six models with new more-rounded styling included the 1-2 plow 330, the 2-3 plow 430, the 3-plow 530, the 4-plow 630, and the 5-plow 730. � e standard-tread 830

was rated as a 6-plow tractor with a diesel engine that pro-duced 75 belt horsepower. � e 30 series retained the same engines and trans-missions as the previous 20

series, but new fl at-top fend-ers with dual headlights were provided for the 530, 630,

and 730 row-crop models.

� e J. I. Case Company com-

pleted 1958 as the fi rst year of selling a new line of tractors. � e new line had been introduced at a dealer meeting which featured Tug-O-War contests with Case tractors equipped with the new Case-o-matic torque converter drive pulling competitive trac-tors backwards. � e 3-plow 400, 4-plow 600, and 5-plow 800 were the models with the Case-o-matic drive and the 900 was the large standard-tread model with a 6-plow rating.

“The 460 and 560 The 460 and 560 created the mostexcitement”

50YEARS AGO

(Dec 58-Jan 59)

International Harvester had a new line of trac-

tors for the 1959 model year. It started with the restyled Cub, and was followed by the new 140, 240, 340, 460, and 560 models. Except for the Farmall 140, an off set type with a 1-2 plow rating, all the

other models were available in the Farmall row-crop version or International utility-type or standard-tread versions. � e 240 was rated as a 2-3 plow tractor and the 340 was a 3-plow trac-tor. � e 460 and 560 created the most excitement, because they were powered by 6-cylin-der engines. Initially rated at 50 and 60 belt horsepower, they were classifi ed as 4- and 5-plow tractors.

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The diesel engine for the Farmall 560 was the direct-start type. Previous IH diesel engines for tractors started with gasoline and then switched to diesel.


� e Oliver 660 replaced the Super 66 for

1959 with increased power for a 3-plow rating. Oliver’s other mod-els for 1959 had been introduced the year before and included the 3-plow 550 and three models powered by 6-cylinder engines—the 3-4 plow 770, the 4-5 plow 880, and the standard-tread 950 with a 5-6 plow rating. � e stan-dard-tread, 6-plow 990 GM was powered with a Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engine.

Massey-Ferguson had completed its fi rst year

with its new name, one line of products, and a unifi ed dealer organization. Previously, it was the Massey-Harris-Ferguson Company with Massey-Harris dealers selling Massey-Harris products and Ferguson deal-ers selling Ferguson tractors and implements. � e company started off 1959 with the 2-3

plow Ferguson 35, the 3-plow Massey-Ferguson 50, and

the 4-plow Massey-Ferguson 65.

Cockshutt of Brantford, Ontario, had intro-duced a new line with four models of tractors for 1958. � ese tractors featured a new Harvest Gold color and new styling with a fl at square grill. � e 540 model was a utility type of tractor with a gasoline engine and a 2-3 plow rating. � e 550 was rated as a 3-plow tractor with either a gasoline or diesel engine. � e 560 had a diesel engine and a 4-plow rat-ing. � e 5-plow 570 was pow-ered with a 6-cylinder gasoline or diesel engine.

For the 1959 model year, the Ford 801 and 901 with a 3-4 plow rating and the imported 4-plow Fordson Power Major topped the Ford line. Allis-Chalmers’ largest tractor was the 4-5 plow D17. � e largest Minneapolis-Moline tractors were the 4-plow 5 Star row-crop model and the large standard-tread GB model with a 5-plow rating.

Sales for 1958 increased

over 1957 with Case advertis-ing a 56-percent increase in retail sales. Deere & Company reported a 22-percent increase in company sales, Minneapolis-Moline a 13-percent increase, Oliver an 11.5-percent

increase, Massey-Ferguson a 7-percent increase (46-per-

cent increase in the U.S.) and Harvester’s

farm equipment division a 2.5-per-cent increase.

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The new for 1959 John Deere 30 series had six models with the 730 being the largest row-crop tractor with 59 belt horsepower.

40 YEARS AGO

(Dec 68-Jan 69)

John Deere intro-duced three new trac-

tors for the 1969 model year. � e 1520 was a utility type of tractor, powered by a 3-cylin-der gasoline or diesel engine which produced 46 PTO horsepower. � e new row-crop 2520 replaced the 2510 and was rated at 60 PTO horse-power. � e third new tractor was the 4520 with a turbo-charged,, 6-cylinder diesel engine which was rated at 120 PTO horsepower. � e 3020 at 70 PTO horsepower and the 4020 at 94 PTO horse-power were revised with a hydraulic-control console by the right side of the seat and the availability of a hydro-static front wheel assist. � e standard-tread 5020 increased its power output to 140 PTO horsepower.

International Harvester’s new top-of-the-line trac-

tor for 1969 was the 4156 4-wheel-drive tractor which replaced the 4100 4-wheel-drive model. � e 4156 had a turbocharged, 6-cylinder diesel engine, which devel-oped 140 PTO horsepower, a rigid frame, and 4-wheel steer-ing. � e turbocharged 1256 was Harvester’s largest row-crop tractor with 116 PTO horsepower.

All of Harvester’s line of tractors now carried the International nameplate.

� e J. I. Case Company intro-

duced the 1470 4-wheel-drive tractor with a rigid frame and 4-wheel steering as the replace-ment for the 1200 model. � e 1470 was rated at 140 PTO horsepower with its tur-bocharged, 6-cylinder Case 504-cubic-inch diesel engine. � e largest Case row-crop trac-tor for 1969 was the 1030 with 101 PTO horsepower.

The Case 1470 provided the operator the choice of coordinated front and rear steering, crab steering, front steering, or rear steering.


Oliver had introduced two new large tractors

in mid-1968. � e 2050 was rated at 118 factory certifi ed PTO horsepower and the 2150 at 131. Both were built with the 478-cubic-inch White-Hercules 6-cylinder diesel engine, but the 2150 was turbocharged.

Massey-Ferguson added the 1080

model with a 4-cylinder Perkins diesel engine for the 1969 model year. Rated at 80 PTO horsepower, it fi lled the gap between the 180 with 63 PTO horsepower and the 1100 with 92 PTO horsepower. Massey’s largest tractor for 1969 was the turbocharged 1130 with 120 PTO horsepower.

Allis-Chalmers made some improvements

to the One-Ninety and One-Ninety XT for 1969. As a result, the 93 PTO horsepower One-Ninety XT carried a new Series III decal, but the 77 PTO

horsepower One-Ninety did not. � e turbocharged D21 Series II with 127 PTO horse-power was A-C’s large standard-tread tractor for 1969.

Minneapolis-Moline’s larg-

est tractor for 1969 was the G1000 Vista with 110 PTO horsepower. The 105 PTO horsepower Ford 8000, which had been introduced in early 1968, was Ford’s largest model for 1969. The Steiger line of 4-wheel-drive tractors for 1969 consisted of three articulated models powered by Detroit Diesel 2-cycle engines. The largest was the 3300 with an 8V71N engine rated at 328 engine horse-power. Versatile offered the 118, 125, and 145 models of articulated 4-wheel drive trac-tors for 1969. The 145 was the largest with a 185 engine horsepower Cummins V-8 diesel engine.

� e Farm and Industrial Equipment Institute, the trade association for the farm equip-ment industry, reported U.S. retail sales of tractors for 1968 were 157,942 units, down 11 percent from the 176,672 sold in 1967 and down 15 percent from the 185,061 sold in the peak year of 1966.

30 YEARS AGO

(Dec 78-Jan 79)

J. I. Case intro-duced four models

of the 90 series of row-crop trac-tors for the 1959 model year, replacing six models of the 70 series. � e four models were the 2090 with 108 PTO horse-power, the 2290 with 128 PTO horsepower, the 2390 with 160 PTO horsepower, and the 2590 with 180 PTO horsepower. All were powered with the Case 504-cubic-inch, 6-cylinder diesel engine, which was turbocharged for the three largest models.

John Deere’s new 8440 and 8640 articu-

lated 4-wheel-drive tractors replaced the 8430 and 8630 for 1979. � e engine horse-power remained at 215 and 275, respectively, with 466- and 619-cubic-inch John Deere 6-cylinder diesel engines, which were turbocharged and inter-cooled. Improvements included better cooling for the engines and numerous transmission revisions.

International Harvester added the 4786, a larger

articulated 4-wheel-drive trac-tor, to its line for 1979. Built by Steiger, as were the 4386 and 4586 models, the 4786 was powered by an International 800-cubic-inch, turbocharged V-8 diesel engine with 350 engine horsepower.

For 1979 Big Bud, with a new company name of Big Bud Tractors, Inc., introduced four new models of

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This Oliver 2050 was equipped with dual rear wheels, a popular option by 1969, front wheel assist and optional fender fuel tanks which lengthened the time between refills.


articulated 4-wheel-drive trac-tors with new styling. � e 360, 400, 450, and 525 model num-bers corresponded to the engine horsepower ratings. � e 400 was equipped with a Detroit Diesel 2-cycle, V-8 diesel engine with 736 cubic inches. � e other three used 6-cylinder, turbocharged Cummins diesel engines, the 855-cubic-inch size for the 360 and the 1150 cubic-inch-size for the 450 and 525. � e engines for the 360 and 525 were also intercooled.

Steiger’s largest articulated 4-wheel-drive tractor for 1979 was the Tiger III. It was rated as 450 engine horsepower with the 1150-cubic-inch Cummins 6-cylinder engine or 470 engine horsepower with the 1099-cubic-inch Caterpillar V-8 engine. Both engines were turbocharged and intercooled. � e 950 Series 2 was Versatile’s largest articulated 4-wheel-drive model, developing 348 engine horsepower with its turbocharged, 903-cubic-inch Cummins V-8 engine.

In the 20 years between 1959 and 1979, the power of the largest row-crop tractors jumped from about 60 horse-power to 180. In addition to the new Case 2590 with 180 PTO horsepower, the Allis-Chalmers 7080, the John Deere 4840, and the White 2-180 were rated at 180 PTO horsepower. � e International 1586 with 160 PTO horsepower was slightly less and the Massey-Ferguson 2805 with 190 PTO horse-power was slightly more.

� e U.S. retail sales of farm tractors continued to improve for 1978 with sales of 175,770 units, a 13 percent increase over 1977, but 11 percent less than the 196,994 sold in the 1973 peak year.

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“Big Bud Tractors, Inc., introduced four new models of articulated 4-wheel-drive tractors with new styling”

The Allis-Chalmers 7080 was one of five row-crop tractors available in early 1979 with 180 or more PTO horsepower.

The Big Bud 525 4-wheel-drive tractor developed 525 engine horsepower with its 1150-cubic-inch, 6-cylinder Cummins turbocharged and intercooled diesel engine.


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Jones Copeland had many years of experience in designing and constructing off road articu-lated vehicles. He needed a trac-tor that could handle over 200 hours of diffi cult rice land farm-ing, operate under extreme con-ditions and maneuver through tough terrain, even swamps. In 1970, Copeland joined forces

with a rice farmer, J.D. Woods to develop such a tractor.

Woods & Copeland’s number one test unit initially started trial fi eld production operations on May 13, 1971, performing water leveling jobs in the Texas Costal Rice Belt. After three complete years, this rugged unit had compiled

OME 4-wheel dr ives are

some of the leas t known

and bes t kept secrets in the

b ig tractor market . These monster

tractors of fer impress ive power in

the f ie ld and can work through the

toughest condit ions . In th is s tor y we

wi l l look at the h is tor y of ROME 4WDs

and v is i t a farm that runs three of

these b ig tractors .

by Jason Haser t

Howard Brothers’ ROME 450-C with IH 11 bottom plow working through standing water.


more than 9,000 hours of use with a remarkable 95% avail-ability record. � e sheet metal cover was installed after the fi rst full year of operation. � e cover represents only a change in the original design. Since May 1971, the 301C has been tested in every phase of the rice industry. � is tractor, beyond

a doubt, is a proven, depend-able unit, but, most impor-tantly, it has achieved consis-tently high production rates at low maintenance cost per hour, per dollar investment. � e Woods & Copeland 301C and 220C power shift trac-tors aren’t designed for every farm. In fact, they are only

recommended for use on 350-acre rice farms and up.

Woods & Copeland trac-tors were built using the best parts available from top name manufacturers with nationwide distribution centers. Cummins or Caterpillar engines, Allison transmissions, and Caterpillar axels were all standard

components on these four-wheel drive tractors. Simplicity of oper-ation was another key feature provided by a four speed power shift control and throttle on the right hand of the console so that the four wheel drive can be oper-ated simultaneously with one hand for instant speed changes to meet those alternating

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The ROME 475-C cab is very roomy.

This Woods and Copeland 600-C was used by M&W Gear as a demonstrator in the 1970s.

The ROME 475-C is a freight train in the fi eld.

Howard Brothers’ ROME 4wds plowing full speed ahead covering 20 acres an hour with a pair of 11 bottom IH plows.


54

conditions. � e 301C and 220C tractors were built with indus-try standard drawbar heights and John Deere standard quick couplers for implement hydrau-lics. Chest high pull hooks were placed on the front and rear of the tractor for snaking out of bog holes.

Woods & Copeland designed and built imple-ments for the rice industry as well. � ese heavy duty four wheel drive tractor implements included a twenty-six foot fold-ing off set parallel geometry disk that was built to decrease its physical working size, a 60-foot long by 18-foot wide land plane, and a large pull type utility blade with a twenty-four foot wide cut.

From 1971- 1976 Woods & Copeland produced the fol-lowing tractors: 301C with a Caterpillar engine rated at 301 HP, 320C with a Cummins engine rated at a 320 HP, 450C with a Cummins engine rated at 450 HP and the Monster 600C with a Cummins engine rated at 600 HP. � e 600C was a mas-sive tractor for its day produc-ing a whopping 600 HP and 2100 RPMS. It was fi tted with a Cummins KTA-1150C diesel engine, an Allison power shift transmission with twelve for-ward and two reverse gears and was capable of 25 MPH on the road. In fact, this is one of the largest four wheel drives ever built even compared to Steiger, Versatile, Big Bud, and John Deere four wheel drives.

In 1976 the Rome Plow Company purchased the Woods & Copeland Company which had become known as the “tractor people.” Based in Cedartown, Georgia, the Rome Plow Company was a respected force in the heavy-duty forestry,

land reclamation and till-age industry. � e Rome Plow Company started production of a new range of tractors in 1978 that spanned eight years. � ese tractors included: 375C with a Caterpillar 3406 engine rated at 375 HP, 450C with a Cummins with an 1150K engine rated at 450 HP, and the 475C with a Caterpillar 3408 engine rated at 475 HP.

It is rare to fi nd a Rome tractor north of the Mason-Dixon line with most of the brute tractors located in the

states located between Georgia and Texas. Rome four-wheel drives were built to excel on large rice farms in the south where power and fl otation are required to work the wet heavy land of the region. Brothers Doug and Steve Howard of Albion, NY encounter harsh conditions in their 1,500-acre vegetable and grain farm similar to the rice farming.

Albion, NY sits along the shores of Lake Ontario and is known for its vegetable farms raising cabbage, carrots,

red beets, onions, squash, peas, green beans and sweet corn. � is area’s soils range from sandy/clay to muck soil. � e region has on aver-age one and a half sunny days per month with rain consis-tently falling. Spring arrives in mid-May and snow may fall as early as late October. With this tough environment the Howard Brothers farm relies on three ROME 4WDs, a Steiger Cougar ST-251 and Ford FW-30 to work their ground.

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This Rome 475 C is owned by the Bloodworth family of Crawfordsville, Arkansas. It was purchased in the spring of 2006 at an auction. It is serial number 103 and is one of the fi rst models built by Rome after the purchase from Woods & Copeland. It is powered by a 3408 Cummins with Cat axles and a 6-speed Allison auto-shift transmission. It is used to pull a Krause 8-row 40” in-line subsoiler. According to Robbie Bloodworth, it’s like driving a house. In the front you can only see the hood and you can’t even see the tires unless you stand up.


Raising vegetables requires traditional heavy tillage to prepare a clean seed bed. � e Howard’s moldboard plow, disk and fi eld cultivate all of their fi elds. Vegetables are a time and labor intensive crop. � e Howard Brothers have to plow and plant their 1,500 acres oper-ation in two weeks. � e tough soils and unpredictable weather requires big horsepower to pre-pare a clean planting seed bed.

Howard Brother Farms run two ROME 475-C and a ROME 450-C. � e ROMES pull two 11 bot-tom International moldboard plows, a 38ft Sunfl ower disk, fi eld cultivators and a 40-foot Degelman roller. � ese heavy-duty tractors are well suited for the large implements and high speed farming. � e Howards can run an 11-bot-tom plow with 12-inch fur-rows on a ROME at fi ve mph covering around ten acres an hour. � is kind of power makes all the diff erence in

making a vegetable in unpre-dictable weather and harsh fi eld conditions of Western New York

ROME tractors are impres-sive to see in person. � ey are big steel attached to raw horsepower.

One of these tractors equipped with rice tires can stop dead in standing water with an 11-bottom plow and start right up and pull directly through the sticky spot with any loss of traction. Rome tractors also off er unprec-edented view of the fi eld with seven-foot tall cab interiors. A 6’2 person can stand in the cab with plenty of head room.

Rome four wheel drives in combination with their heavy duty tillage equipment put the company at the head of the field. These monster tractors offered dependability and easy service. Rome tractors were built to truly make farmers feel like they are an Emperor of the field.

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The Woods & Copeland number one test unit started fi eld trials on May 13, 1971, performing water leveling jobs in the Texas Coastal Rice Belt. After three years, this rugged tractor compiled 9,000 hours with a remarkable 95% availability

ROME “this is one of the largest four wheel drives ever built”


56

SOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLDSOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!MUSCLE TRACTORSS

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t was an event that is jus t the

beginn ing of what is to come in the

co l lect ing wor ld . On August 23, the

team of Aumann Auct ions conducted

the f i r s t “MUSCLE TRACTOR” auct ion .

Most of the tractors in this auction were collected by Rick Williams of Arkansas. After Rick purchases a tractor, it is sent to Logansport, IN where it is restored by the Miller crew.

Bryce Miller and his father, Lonnie, are both involved in the tractor business. Lonnie leans toward the Oliver and MM line because that is what he was raised with. Bryce prefers red though. Together they run Miller Farm Drainage service. Since this is a seasonal job, they began looking for winter work to keep their crews busy and prevent layoff s. Tractor restora-tion was the answer and they have made a nice sideline busi-ness out of it. � eir work is sec-ond to none.

� e bulk of the tractors in this “fi rst of a kind” auction were tractors built after 1960. � ey were the new workhorses of that era. Until recently those models were not very collectible and could be bought at a rea-sonable price. However, things are changing quickly and this auction proved it. Hundreds of spectators and buyers showed up to enjoy this unique auction and get a glimpse of the new farm collectibles.

It was a great day for an auc-tion prices were quite a shock to many. � e rarest tractor, a MM G-1000 Vista, was the fi rst to sell and it set the pace for prices the rest of the day.

FOLLOWING ARE THEHIGHLIGHTS OF THE AUCTION:

Oliver 2255MFWD, ROPS, restored- $31,000

Oliver 1950 GM El Torowith Terra Tires, restored- $33,000

Minneapolis-Moline G-1000 Vista Diesel MFWD, restored- $57,500


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John Deere 4320 Diesel

MFWD, unrestore

- $15,000

Oliver 1850 Diesel

MFWD, restored

- $21,000

Oliver 2150 Diesel

MFWD, original tractor

- $11,500

Oliver G-1355 Diesel,

restored

- $15,500

MM G-900 Diesel,

wide front, new motor,

restored

- $14,500

JD 4620 Diesel,

wide front, cab

- $15,000

Oliver 2255,

2WD, 3150 engine,

restored

- $19,500

MM G-750,

restored (same as Oliver

1655)

- $30,000

JD 730 Hi-Crop,

no tag

- $21,000

“The bulk of the tractors in this “first of a kind” auction were tractors built after 1960.”

International 1206

MFWD, restored

- $27,000


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Manuals: Reasonably Priced Reprints, Operator, Service - Most Brands. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 MN

Allis Triangle or Diamond logo 3x5 ft Flags, single see thru - $50 or Double - $70; Tractor T-shirts - $13.00; Manuals; FARMING GAME Kids - $29. Prices includes ship-ping. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 (MN)

Farm Toys & Collectibles: Criswell’s Pedal Tractor Guide - $28 delivered - Was $49.95. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 (MN)

Oliver Furrow Print, 770 fall plowing scene, limited edition print of 500, 17x21- $59.99, NOW $40.00 includes ship-ping. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 MN

Oliver Shield 3x5 ft fl ag $55 delivered. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 MN

General Tractor or Memorabilia: Tractor T-shirts - 150+ , AC, Case, Ford, IH, MM, Oliver, more, $13-15 delivered. AntiqueTractorSupply.com, 507-995-1297 MN

JD Checkers Set - $25 deliv-ered. AntiqueTractorSupply.com 507-995-1297 MN

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